How landscapes reveal Noah’s Flood

Visualizing the receding floodwaters

The Bible tells us that the waters of Noah’s Flood rose and covered the entire
globe, destroying every air-breathing land-dwelling animal on earth (Genesis 7:17–24). After that they began to recede
(Genesis 8:1–3).

The process of receding water is mentioned repeatedly: ‘the waters receded’
(Genesis 8:1); ‘the water receded steadily from the
earth’ (8:3); ‘the waters continued to recede until the tenth month
and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible’.

It took 2 ½ months from the time the Ark came to rest on the mountains of
Ararat until the other mountains became visible. Clearly a lot of water was flowing
off the land.

… the waters were receding for more than seven months before the earth was dry
and Noah could open the door of the Ark.

The length of time taken for the waters to recede is further indicated by Genesis 8:8 which says Noah released a dove to ‘see
if the water had receded from the surface of the ground’. However, the dove
returned because it ‘could find no place to set its feet because there was
water over all the surface of the earth’ (v. 9). In other words, the water
still covered the earth when the dove was released nearly seven weeks after the
mountains became visible, which was 2 ½ months after the Ark came to rest.

Altogether the waters were receding for more than seven months before the
earth was dry and Noah could open the door of the Ark.

As the waters receded from the continents they would have eroded the land leaving
shapes that form the landscapes we see today. Thus, landscapes should provide powerful
evidence for the effects of Noah’s Flood as well as a way of relating geological
formations to the timing of the events of the Flood—provided you know what
to look for.

Signature of the Recessive stage of the Flood

Photo by New South Wales Department of Environment and Climate Change

Figure 2. Wollomombi Falls (left) and Chandler Falls (right), New
South Wales, Australia, after heavy rain. Even though the flow of water is great
and the falls spectacular, the flow is relatively small when compared with the gorge
itself.

As the sea floor started sinking relative to the continents, the floodwaters covering
the continents began to flow into the oceans. On each continent the water flowed
away from the higher areas in the middle toward the lower areas
at the edges, in a direction generally perpendicular to the shore.

Since the Flood was global the receding waters would have produced the same sort
of signature all over the world.

At first, the water flowed in sheets. This means that they eroded surfaces relatively
flat, even in areas of high elevation on the continents. The water would tend to
cut across geological strata like a knife cutting cheese. Such high plateaus are
a common feature of today’s landscapes and have been given a name—peneplanes,
which means ‘almost a plane’.

Photo by Tas Walker

Figure 3. The plunge pool for the Wolomombi Falls is surrounded
by only a small amount of broken rocks, or talus, suggesting little rock has fallen
into the gorge since it was first eroded.

Eventually, the flow of floodwater reduced with time. Thus, the water sheets would
divide into mega-rivers, many times wider than the widest rivers that flow over
the contents today. These mega-rivers would dissect the plateaus into wide valleys.
They would also cut across the underlying geological structure in their journey
to the ocean, acting as if the structure did not exist. This is a common feature
of present day landscapes and geologists have coined a term for it—discordant
drainage. And the mega-rivers would carry even the largest rock debris clear out
of their valleys.

After the Flood and up to the present time, rainfall draining from the land would
flow in the same valleys that were cut by the Flood. However, because the water
flowing from the continent is much less than the mega-rivers draining the Flood,
today’s rivers and streams are much smaller than the valleys they occupy.
These rivers have also even been given a name—underfit rivers.

In the 4,300 years since the Flood, ice, wind and water have continued to erode
the landscape. In the first few centuries, ice sheets developed on some areas of
the continents, especially in the northern hemisphere, and these produced tell-tale
effects on the landscape. However, in areas that were not glaciated, the channels
cut by rivers since the Flood are relatively small, about the same size as the river
itself. And those rivers would not have enough energy to carry the largest rock
debris, called talus, away. In order to be transported, large rock debris would
need first to be broken into smaller pieces.

Look for plateaus that have been cut relatively flat, even across the underlying
geological structure, such as through mountain ranges rather than around them. Look
for wide valleys that cut into the plateaus. Look for rivers that are much smaller
than the valleys they occupy and that also cut across the underlying geologic structure.

We can use this simple model to see the effects of the receding waters of Noah’s
Flood all over the world. Look for plateaus that have been cut relatively flat,
even across the underlying geological structure, such as through mountain
ranges rather than around them. Look for wide valleys that cut into the plateaus.
Look for rivers that are much smaller than the valleys they occupy and that also
cut across the underlying geologic structure. Check the amount of talus in the gorges
and valleys.

Wollomombi Gorge, Australia

Armidale, New South Wales sits atop the high plateau that forms part of the Great
Dividing Range, a range that runs from the north to the south of the continent adjacent
to the east coast. Not far away, at the edge of the plateau, the Wollomombi Gorge
cuts deep into surface (figure 1). After heavy rain two waterfalls flow into the
gorge (figure 2). The Wollomombi Falls to the left has an impressive drop and the
Chandler Falls to the right churns down the steep escarpment in a narrow channel.

The rocks in the gorge are tightly folded and faulted and have a near vertical orientation.1They form part of the eastern
block of Australia known as the New England Fold Belt, which was folded, deformed
and uplifted.

Photo by Tas Walker

Figure 4. Escarpments of the narrow downstream gorge support only
a limited growth of vegetation. Little rock debris has fallen into the gorge since
it was carved as indicated by the absence of talus in the bottom.

Notice that the plateau cuts the vertical strata almost horizontally forming an
undulating land surface nearly 1,000 m above sea level. It’s easy to imagine
how this plateau could have been cut by the receding floodwaters that were running
in sheets eastward off the continents.

The Wollomombi Gorge is quite narrow at the bottom but nearly a kilometre wide in
places at the top. It is much narrower than the wide valleys further east that are
used for farming and which can be many tens of kilometers across. This narrowness
indicates that the gorge was cut quite late geologically. Is it possible for the
gorge to have been cut by the Wollomombi and Chandler rivers in the approximately
4,500 years since the Flood? That seems unlikely to me considering the volume of
material removed from the gorge. It seems more likely that the gorge was cut very
late in the Flood when the flow of water was much reduced but still flowing with
significantly more energy than the present rivers can muster, even after heavy rainfall.

Figure 5. Interpreted geological history of the Wollomombi Falls.
Rocks of the area were deposited early in the Flood, compressed and uplifted. The
flat plateau was eroded by sheet flow, during the Abative phase of the Flood. The
narrow gorge was eroded very late in the Flood, during the Dispersive phase.

The trees and other vegetation, growing sparsely on the escarpment, indicate that
the escarpment is relatively stable otherwise the vegetation would not be able to
become established. There is very little talus in the bottom of the gorge. The plunge
pool for the Wolomombi Falls is about the correct size for water flows that occur
at the present time, suggesting that this small pool was excavated after the Flood.
Although there are some blocks of rock around the plunge pool the volume of talus
is small. This suggests that the talus has accumulated after the Flood and generally
not been carried away. In other words, the gorge was mostly excavated when the water
flows were much greater and had enough energy to carry the material out. These conclusions
depend on whether the rock falling from the walls of the gorge tends to break away
as large or small blocks, and how readily the rock material will break down.

Conclusion

The Wollomombi Gorge at the edge of the large plateau near Armidale, Australia,
is a good example of the sort of geologic signatures that the receding waters of
Noah’s Flood carved onto the earth. Sheet flow during the Abative phase of
the Flood cut the horizontal plateau across the vertical structure of the underlying
rocks, and channel flow in the Dispersive phase late in the Flood cut the gorge
itself. Only minimal erosion has occurred in the 4,300 years since the Flood.

Recommended Resources

Is there any evidence of Noah’s Flood? Yes, all over the world! Dr Walker,
an Australian geologist, highlights some of the remarkable geologic features that
he has studied in his home country—and they can only be explained by a worldwide
flood. (Junior High-Adult) 57 mins. While the content of this popular, illustrated
presentation DVD is the same as one you may have with the same title, it now includes
extra features. Not only does it have a new cover design, it also has English sub-titles,
has been ‘re-badged’ to feature the CMI logo and contact details and
includes a 3-minute promotional segment.

Beautiful photography and great teaching by many of the world’s leading creation
researchers and speakers are featured in this exquisite book, compiled by a man
who has been guiding raft trips through the Grand Canyon since 1980. Dr Henry Morris,
Ken Ham, Dr John Baumgardner and Dr Werner Gitt are just a few of the people who
have contributed to make this book so special. Hardcover. 104 pages

Eminent geologist Dr Steven Austin explains from a biblical standpoint how the Grand
Canyon was formed. This book contains a wealth of information about geology and
biology that equips Christians to defend Genesis, the young earth position, the
worldwide Flood, etc. Also includes material on the eruption of Mount St. Helens.
(Highschool–Adult) 282 pages. #10-2-024

References

Published: 22 August 2008(GMT+10)

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